Q: We have been enjoying your sharing of Disney knowledge for many years now and have a question we hope you can answer for us. There is a clock hanging in the walkway through Sleeping Beauty Castle at Disneyland that has stopped. Some have said the stopped time refers to the time Walt Disney passed away or the time of his Disneyland inauguration speech. Both ideas have been dismissed by Disney fans. Is there a special reference for the time on this beautiful timepiece?
Matthew and Cynthia, Damascus, Maryland
A: There is plenty of discussion of this clock chandelier on the Internet. The clock doesn’t seem to always be stopped at the same time, but recently it was around 12:23, and another time at 1:25, so those two suggested rumors would be incorrect—that the time relates to the time of Walt’s death (which was actually 9:30 a.m.) or to the time Walt gave his Disneyland dedication speech (which would have been mid to late afternoon). The position of the clock hands actually is just random; there is no significance to the time on which it has stopped. According to Walt Disney Imagineering, the clock was installed in a 1996 refurbishment, and has never worked since it was acquired.
Dave Smith